SAVANNAH, Ga.- Strong pitching and timely hitting led Savannah State to a 12-0 win over Benedict on Saturday afternoon at the SSU Softball Field to give the Lady Tigers the three game sweep of their visitors from Columbia, South Carolina.

Donnea Allen and Aaliyah Martin combined to limit Benedict to two hits while striking out five batters.

At the plate, Ansley Hudson hit a home run, Jayla Givens hit a triple while Kaitlyn Williams, Jayla Alexander and Madison Starling-Martin all hit doubles.

Shamiya Raines singled to left field in the second inning and Morgan Cole entered the game as her pinch runner. After Ariana Battle drew a walk, Milani Dunning hit into a double play but Hudson stepped to the plate and hit a ball to outfield and turned it into a inside the park home run that scored herself and Cole for a 2-0 lead.

Givens hit a triple in the third inning and scored on a double by Starling-Martin.

The bottom of the fourth saw SSU score nine times off six hits.

Battle, Hudson and Phaedra Smith all hit singles to load the bases for Ambria Guye whose single to center field brought home Battle and Hudson. A walk to Alexander re-loaded the bases and a wild pitch allowed Smith to score. Guye scored when Givens reached base due to an error, Alexander scored on a single by Starling-Martin and a wild pitch sent home Givens. After Carissa Ball was inserted as a pinch runner for Starling-Martin, Raines was hit by a pitch and a wild pitch allowed Ball to score. An error by the first baseman resulted in Battle reaching base and Raines scoring. Battle scored the final run of day following a double to right field by Williams.

Allen pitched four innings, allowed one hit and struck out four while Martin pitched one inning, allowed one hit and recorded one strikeout.

Hudson went 2-for-2 and finished the game with two runs and two RBI. Starling-Martin added two hits and two RBI while Givens and Battle both scored twice and Guye drove in two runs.

Savannah State improved to 24-13 with the victory and 14-7 in the SIAC.

SSU will continue their six-game homestand against Edward Waters on April 17 with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

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